A New years thought a few hours before we reach 2013.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

A Word of Hope
It’s hard to believe that 2012 has already come and gone. Today is the last day of 2012 and tonight we will celebrate the beginning of a new year. New Year’s Eve is a time we celebrate with friends and family. It’s on this night that we plan huge parties, buy fireworks, and fix a big spread of food (which we plan to make our resolution to lose in 2013) and faithfully ring in the beginning of another year.

As you look forward to 2013, I want to invite you today to look back on 2012. How have the events in your life this past year made you a stronger person today? What is it you experienced in 2012 that will help you embrace 2013? Maybe it’s a new job or a new relationship that you received this past year. It could be the loss of someone very dear that reminds you to celebrate life each and every day. Whatever it is that comes to your mind as you look back, may you look forward with great joy in knowing that our God who loves you also walks with you each and every day. As you celebrate tonight, give thanks to God for all God’s blessings in your life. Celebrate your life’s blessings ;, remember those who have gone before you and rejoice in the fact that we are all on this journey together.

Christmas, how will we spread the real meaning?

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.—John 3:16

Many people really complain that  stores and radio stations play Christmas music far ahead of the season: “The ‘world’ has kidnapped Christmas!” But since it is the feast of God’s love for the world, shouldn’t the whole world celebrate?

We might wonder if the message of Christ, broadcast through so much Christmas music, makes a difference to anyone who is not a believer. But it can. The Spirit of God works in many different ways to bring people to faith in Jesus. And for some people, as a friend of mine once said, “It only takes one Christmas!”

Does our Christmas celebration tell the whole good-news story? John 3:16 certainly touches all the main points: God’s love, for the world, shown in the gift of the Son, so that whoever believes has eternal life.

This year, let’s have the kind of Christmas that tells the whole story. How? That’s a good question to ponder.

A friend told his family one year that they would be getting smaller presents, because he was handing out cash to homeless people. Some families skip their big dinner on Christmas to serve a meal at a shelter. Another person may finally smile at that lonely classmate or neighbor and break the ice to begin a friendship.

There must be a world of ways to show God’s cosmic love to even the non-believer, the question is…how will we do it?

Isn’t it strange?

A bible from 1859. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Isn’t it strange how a $100 dollar bill seems like such a large amount when you donate it to the church, but such a small amount when you go shopping?

Isn’t it strange how endless an hour seems when we are serving God, but how short it is when we watch a Football game for 60 minutes?

Isn’t it strange how 2 hours seem so long when you’re at the church and how short they seem when you’re watching a good movie?

Isn’t it strange that you can’t find things to say when you’re praying, but you have no trouble on thinking what to talk about with a friend?

Isn’t it strange how difficult and boring it is to read one chapter of the Bible but how easy it is to read 100 pages of a popular novel?

Isn’t it strange how everyone wants front-row-tickets to concerts or games, but they do whatever is possible to sit at the last row in the church?

Isn’t it strange how we need to know about an event for the church 2-3 weeks before the day so we can include it in our agenda, but we can adjust it for other events in the last minute?

Isn’t it strange how difficult it is to learn a fact about God to share it with others, but how easy it is to learn, understand, extend and repeat gossip?

Isn’t it strange how we believe everything that magazines and newspapers say, but we question the words in the Bible?

Isn’t it strange how everyone wants a place in heaven, but they don’t want to believe, do, or say anything to get there?

Isn’t it strange how we send jokes in e-mails and they are fowarded right away, but when we are going to send messages about God, we think about it twice before we share it with others?

IT’S STRANGE ISN’T IT?

Are you laughing?
Are you thinking about it?
Spread the word, and thank God, because he loves you.

 

I saw this today, and just had to share it with you…:)